Day 256

Daily Stats
Start: 10:00 AM - Menasha, WI
Finish 3:30 PM - Oshkosh, WI
Time: 5:30 hours
Daily dist: 15 miles
Total dist: 5000+
Companions: Mark, Terry, Tim, and Bob
Weather: Mostly clear skies, 70’s, SW wind 15-20
Notes: Lake Winnebago was my last run on open water.

Quite a crew to see me off today. L to R - Nancy, Vern, Luke, Amy, Noah and Ty

It’s not big by great lake standards, but just the same Lake Winnebago is big enough to demand some attention. Long enough to display an empty horizon line when you look down to the south, and well over 10 miles wide where I traveled on the north end today. The wind was up a bit but thankfully out of the southwest putting me safely in the lee shore as I paddled twelve miles south to where the Fox River enters the lake in Oshkosh. A few of the guys I’d met over the last few days had mentioned trying to catch up with me on the lake. After an hour of paddling solo, I looked over at a boat ramp where I saw some other kayakers land and, sure enough, there were Bob and Terry pulling their boats off Bob’s car.

The three of us continued south together and after another hour of paddling, another paddler, Tim, joined our growing armada. A few miles further on we ran into Mark who had paddled out from a park in Oshkosh bringing our ranks briefly up to five boats.

L to R Mark, Bob, Tim, and Terry

As quickly as our group grew it soon began to shrink. With several miles to paddle, Tim had to turn around and head for home while Bob and Mark headed back to where Mark left his Jeep in order to have another vehicle to shuttle boats. This all left just Terry and I continuing on the last few miles to the take out where Terry’s car was waiting.

When we reached the boat ramp we were greeted by yet another now familiar face, Dave, who was one of the coordinators that had organized the Fox River Heritage Paddle that I had joined last weekend. He was there to try to catch up with me to escort me a few miles further on to a spot he knew I could stay. As much as I appreciated the help it wasn’t needed because plans had already been hatched for me to head to Bob’s place in Waupaca. There I planned to take a day off the route and explore the Crystal River and Waupaca Chain of Lakes with Bob and anybody else that cared to join us.